Generally, surgical stapling has made substantial advances in the past decades. Specifically, in the area of internal anastomotic stapling the advances have been quite dramatic. Devices such as the Proximate.TM. ILS stapler, produced by the assignee of the present invention, Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, N.J., have enabled surgeons to perform operations and procedures which were heretofore perceived as difficult, if not impossible, with relative ease. One example of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,025.
In performing surgical anastomotic stapling, generally the two pieces of lumen are attached by a ring of staples. During this procedure, a circular knife blade is used to separate tissue which is held within the circular ring. The circular ring is then removed with the stapler so that a circular opening within the lumen is completed along the surgical stapling line.
In performing these surgical procedures it is often necessary to separate the anvil portion on which the staples are clinched from the stapling portion from which the staples are expelled. The end of one of the lumens is attached to the shaft of the anvil portion for example by a purse string suture, and the end of the other lumen is attached to the stapling portion such as by another purse string suture, or other technique. It is then necessary to grasp and hold the anvil shaft to reattach the anvil portion to the stapling portion.
It has heretofore been the practice to use instruments not particularly suited or configured to grasp and hold the anvil shaft, such as conventional forceps that include jaw portions to grasp the anvil shaft. It has recently been proposed to utilize special forceps that include jaw portions that are configured to grasp and hold the anvil shaft. The jaw portions include semi-cylindrical grasping surfaces to contact the outer surface of the anvil shaft. The grasping surfaces are smooth to maximize the surface area in contact with the anvil shaft. The heretofore used forceps are not intended to be inserted into an anatomical cavity through a trocar cannula.
There is a need for a surgical instrument for grasping and holding an anvil shaft of an internal, circular surgical stapling device that is extendable through a trocar cannula. It is necessary that such a device securely grasp the anvil shaft and be able to manipulate the anvil portion when extended deep into the pelvis area or other surgical region.